About ESI

ESI Audiotechnik GmbH is located in Leonberg, a nice town located close to
Stuttgart
in the south of Germany. In this region, everything is about engineering with
an interesting mix of small and mid sized as well as large companies that are
the innovation leaders in their field. Global players in the automotive industry,
leading manufacturers for machinery and tools and the European headquarters
of international IT companies are all located around here. Locals here have
been busy with clever engineering and the innovative design of new products
and technology for a very long time.

While many especially around here also inside our company might argue that
such engineering work is important, it is also common sense that there should
be something as a balance beyond work for everyone: for us, that is music
- our priority, our passion.

It is no surprise that everyone at ESI combines this love for music and the
passion for it with the job - it is the essence of what we are doing. Experience
combined with the understanding of the needs of our customers is the driving
force behind our product development. We have years of experience in professional
audio as musicians and sound engineers, some as ambitious hobbyists and others
as professionals. We have keyboard players, guitarists, drummers and singers
in our team. Some of us are synthesizer enthusiasts with deep knowledge and
experience, others have worked as professional sound designers as well as in
movie post production.

We know what our customers expect from our products, because we use them as
well!

The history of ESI goes back to RIDI multimedia GmbH, a company that was originally
setup in 1998 to provide software development and consulting services for the
audio industry and additionally ended up becoming a distributor for selected
professional audio hardware and software products in Germany. Claus Riethmüller,
the founder of RIDI multmedia GmbH, decided to turn his sound design hobby,
his passion for music and his skills as a software engineer into a business
that was started from his bedroom studio - it just seemed to be more fun compared
to continuing with the development of database systems.

Some time after that, the first ESI products have been developed in Korea by
a company called Ego Systems, Inc. (which is where the ESI name originally comes
from) and in 2006, ESI Audiotechnik GmbH was setup as the result of the already
existing strong partnership with the idea to improve ESI products and make them
more popular. The term 'Audiotechnik', which stands for 'audio technology',
was choosen, to show that fundamentally it is the innovative technology that
makes a product design unique and valuable. After a transition period, ESI Audiotechnik
GmbH aquired all the Korean product designs in 2010 and become fully responsible
for the development and the full engineering work for all ESI products. Ultimately
RIDI multimedia GmbH was merged into ESI Audiotechnik GmbH in 2013 and now all
the product development is handled at our headquarters in Leonberg, which lead
to our slogan German Design. Performing Worldwide.

Product development at ESI is always based on the idea of providing a very
cost effective solution with an exceptional value for money. We do not have
an overblown marketing budget that you pay for and we do not invest into writing
stories that describe basic common functionality as something unique by twisting
words. We focus on functionality and features, often adding something unique
compared to others. This makes it possible that ESI solutions are not only affordable,
but due to their set of features have become especially popular in the world
of home recording and for professionals that need to operate on a budget.

ESI products are used in many professional and semi-professional music studios
and have become a preferred choice by musicians and DJs around the globe. By
mid 2018 we have been making audio products for twenty years and it is no surprise
that we have since become one of the leading vendors for audio equipment - to
the extend that our engineering team has been involved in the design and development
of many products for other famous players in the industry. The ESI branded as
well as various OEM products and other designs from ESI Audiotechnik GmbH are
well known and used daily by hundreds of thousands of customers everywhere in
the world. If you are a musician, a DJ or a producer, the chances that you are
or have been using a product our engineering team has been involved in, are
very high.

Today ESI products are manufactured by our key partner, the largest electronic
musical instrument factory in the world with one of the best quality control
systems within the industry.

Key Technologies

When you look at our products, you will find several items that are unique
and a bit different. For instance, with our MAYA44
eX, we are the only vendor worldwide that offers an affordable and yet very
professional PCIe audio interface. It is impossible to find any other device
on the market with this price point and such excellent performance when it comes
to low system load and ultra low latency. So it is not a surprise that many
customers in special industries use this card as a solution in meassurement
systems or for quality control or simply in industrial applications where higher
performance and stability is the most basic requirement. Other unique solutions
include products like our GIGAPORT HD+,
which now in the 4th generation provides a high end, yet extremely compact,
solution for multichannel playback. You won't find any other comparable product
at this size that focuses so much on pristine multichannel sound delivery.

We are one of very few vendors of audio interfaces that develop the driver
software by ourselves. By avoiding generic drivers from third parties, we are
in full control not only of performance, but also features and functionality.
Our Windows drivers are known for their stable low latency operation, something
often confirmed by user reviews and by the press. This is based on our own special
driver technology, EWDM - an enhanced version of the Microsoft WDM driver
standard. Our EWDM drivers provide a perfect integration of all important driver
standards, incl. ASIO 2.0, MME, WDM and DirectSound. All these can be used simultaneously
both in multichannel and in stereo operation. This ensures that our audio interfaces
through their drivers are compatible with virtually any audio application, not
only professional music software, but also consumer audio application and legacy
software (also multichannel) that was originally designed for older Windows
versions. This functionality with ASIO and WDM (and Kernel Streaming) is provided
with ultra low latency and adjustable settings based on system performance.
The support of exclusive mode ensures that audio signals are sent out non-altered,
without any changes in quality, 1:1 through out the device - a function that
is not only important for devices with digital outputs, but also to provide
the best audiophile quality driving the DA converters on the hardware.

With the support of our DirectWIRE technology, we also add the functionality
to route audio signals inside your system back into other applications. What
can be described as a virtual digital cable makes it possible to transfer signals
from any application, no matter if it us using ASIO, MME, WDM or DirectSound,
into another one, also supporting all driver models - in just stereo or for
multiple channels. The new DirectWIRE output routing for our multichannel devices
makes it possible to switch and swap output channel assignments in realtime
and on the fly, even while audio applications are running. Such functionality
is not provided by any other audio interface vendor.

Speaking of drivers, although a totally different type: for our active studio
monitor speakers, we develop our own speaker drivers. Instead of using standard
components, we design the speaker drivers down to the chassis, the coil, the
cone and all other parts. This makes it possible to provide better sound quality
without the usage of additional any circuitry in the electronics that needs
to fix the shortcomings or tune a speaker driver. Also it allows us to be more
innovative: ESI has been the first vendor to offer a 5" active studio monitor
targeted for bedroom studios, essentially creating a whole product category.
Later we were the first vendor to use Kevlar as cone material for this type
of active monitors - something that has since become very popular within the
whole industry. And more recently, our uniK 05+
and uniK 08+ add unique and clever functionality
for an active studio monitor such as the special character tilt EQ, the ESI
bass port plug and the possibility to adjust the front and back independently
with the included decoupling rubber feet.

Another important technology is based on our commitment to MIDI. While many
vendors seem to move away from making computer MIDI hardware, we came up with
new designs such as the worlds first MIDI interface with automatic input / output
detection (currently available as USB cable with MIDIMATE
eX). Ultimately that technology resulted in our M8U
eX, a professional high performance USB 3.0 MIDI interface with extremely
tight timing and a total of 16 ports that can each be used as an input or an
output.

Distributors

ESI products are sold worldwide through a network
of dedicated distribution companies. If you are looking for a local reseller
or if you want to get information about our products locally or in your local
language, please contact one of our distributors.

Contact

You need more information or you want to tell us your opinion? Just contact
us!